Move follows killing of local BJP district president Waseem Bari, along with his father and brother.
Srinagar: On the instructions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the UT administration of Jammu and Kashmir is reviewing the security of all mainstream political leaders after the gruesome killing of local BJP district president Waseem Bari on Wednesday evening, along with his father and brother who were also working as BJP members.
A senior official told this newspaper that after the attack, they have decided to review the security of all political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, including from BJP, Congress, NC, and PDP.
IGP Kashmir range Vijay Kumar told the media that it was a pre-planned attack by Lashkar and they have identified the two terrorists, including a Pakistani who carried out this attack. However, a new local outfit TRF has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Police suspended 10 security guards who were on duty to secure the three activists at Bandipora. A senior police officer said that they were arrested, and are being questioned. He said that they could be even dismissed from the services after the probe into the incident, if they were found to be responsible for their killings.
The house of slain Waseem Bari is barely a few meters from the main police station of Bandipora and CRPF facility nearby. Bari’s father Bashir Ahmad was also a BJP member along with his younger son Umer Bashir, police said. Senior BJP leaders, including Ravinder Raina and Ashok Koul, visited Bandipora to express their sympathies with the family. Bari’s residence was also the office of the BJP in Bandipora district and the government had given him 10 PSOs for protection and it was located in a highly secure area.
Earlierin June, terrorists had killed Ajay Panditha, a Congress sarpanch in South Kashmir, bringing demands from Panchayat members and sarpanchs for security across Kashmir, especially in South Kashmir.
J&K Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari, while condemning the killing of Bari’s family, said the Union government should review the security of all local politicians and prepare the ground for them to function.
“How can we function and go to people in such a scenario? The present UT administration cannot be a replacement for the elected government.If the Central government is serious, it should allow political activities and provide full proof security to the leaders here to function among the masses,” Bukhari told this newspaper.
The killing of the three family members of a BJP leader in Bandipora has brought a fresh wave of scare and fear among the local activists of BJP in Kashmir valley and also among other political activists. Although the government recently said that they have killed about 120 terrorists in the past six months in the Kashmir valley and claimed that there has been a 50% dip in the local recruitment of youths into the terrorists’ ranks, the killings have shown that terrorists were very much present on the ground. “If the government does not provide us security, how can we go to the public and redress their grievances,” said Muhammad Aslam, a local sarpanch in Baramulla district of North Kashmir.
Allaying such fears, a senior police officer said that security would be provided to all local leaders and politicians in Kashmir. He said that they were in the process of reviewing the security of all activists of different mainstream political parties.